Problem solving skills – The programmers biggest myth

Problem solving is at the core of computer science. It is the one skill that will be required with any programming job ever. However every programmer will claim on their résumés’
they have “really strong problem solving skills” but what does that mean? Being completely honest I have it on my résumé but how many times does a programmer get the first error message they receive, google it and spend the next 30 minutes on Stack Overflow?

Now I’m not discounting that online resources aren’t a good source to find the solution to a problem. My point is I feel many programmers never practice the art of problem solving. There has never been considerable amount of time set aside to hone these skills. When do you ever get taught how to approach or solve a problem? For me personally I often can get frustrated after coding for hours on end in the office where I can be tired and angry at not being able to solve the problem in my code. This can lead to hours wasted and eventually asking someone for help. Again let me reiterate there is no issue in asking for others advice as I believe it is a valuable part of solving a problem to get a more experienced view of a complex or bespoke problem.

However what I aim to do is complete a coding challenge/problem a day to develop and enhance my problem solving skills. This way I believe it gives me an hour out of my day to focus on something different other than my current project and also allow me to develop new ways of approaching problems. Not only will it be useful for technical interview questions but being able to apply this to my daily working life will enhance my productivity. The website I am currently using for my problem solving challenges is https://www.coderbyte.com.

Employers are always looking for new hires to demonstrate their problem solving skills. It simply isn’t enough to state “problem solving skills”. You need to illustrate what types of problem solving skills you have and give specific examples of how you’ve utilised these skills. I can’t say I have tried some of these but this article provides some alternative approaches to enhance your problem solving skills. https://cmoe.com/blog/10-ways-to-improve-problem-solving-skills/

•       Dance Your Heart Out. ...
•       Work out to Some Tunes. ...
•       Keep an “Idea Journal” with You. ...
•       Participate in Yoga.

To conclude the point I am trying to make is that as programmers we claim to have these amazing problem solving skills as it’s a daily activity we face in our jobs. However if you were to be honest with yourself, are problems and bugs in your code a stumbling block perhaps, in your development which lead to wasted time? Then investing some time to improve your problem solving skills could be a worthwhile task.